Technical Information

Developer: JoeJoeJoeJoe
Publisher: JoeJoeJoeJoe
Release Date: March 8, 2021
Link to download: https://joejoejoejoe.itch.io/space-solitaire-for-sega-genesis

Solitaire in Space, as the name suggests, is a Klondike card game that takes place in space.
It’s a homebrew (an unofficial game) made for the Genesis/Mega Drive.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

The main menu is very simple and intuitive. Before starting the game, you can choose between drawing one or three cards, and between two songs.

During gameplay, the background stays the same. It’s a black space with distant stars moving, and the card back features Saturn.
All the cards have a different proportion compared to regular cards, which makes them look like mini cards. It’s cute!
The kings, queens, and jacks are wearing space suits.

When you select a card, it turns lilac. And when you’re moving among the cards, your position is marked by a gray selection.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

You only have two songs to choose from and, honestly, I only liked the first one. :/
The second one has annoying tones, and I don’t think it’s comfortable to keep it as the background track of a card game.
On the other hand, the first song is very calm and relaxing.

For every move you make, a specific sound plays. It’s an interesting mechanic to indicate to the player that something is happening. Since you don’t have a cursor (like in Super Solitaire), you need to find where your position is, and this sound works well.

Gameplay

It’s just a regular Klondike solitaire game.
You cannot undo a move, and after you organize all the cards, you need to place them one by one on the tableau because there is no automatic movement. An animation to move these final cards would be interesting.

Unfortunately, there are no options for card backs, points, or even a counter for your matches. 🙁

After many failed matches in a row, in the draw-three mode, I experienced a bug: the card art became glitched (like MissingNo). I needed to restart the game for everything to return to normal.

Replayability and Game Retention

The game itself is very, very simple.
For those who love card games like I do, it’s always a pleasure to try a new one! 🙂
Buuut, there’s nothing that makes you keep playing except trying to win more matches. Unlockable content (like backgrounds, tracks, card backs, etc) usually works well to keep player retention high.
The developer said his intention was to create a project to learn Sega Genesis development using SGDK, so it’s understandable that the game doesn’t include features beyond the core gameplay.

There are a few achievements in RetroAchievements, but after mastering them, I see no reason to keep playing for long hours… unless you really like the game’s aesthetic.